On May 9, 2012, the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Child Care (LMCC) initiative recognized states, communities, early childhood programs, and networks for exceptional work promoting and implementing the goals of LMCC. The Let’s Move! Child Care Recognition Luncheon
took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Sam Kass, White House Assistant Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives, provided keynote remarks.

The public and private partners working with the Office of the First Lady on LMCC include Nemours, White House Domestic Policy Council, Administration for Children and Families, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Child Care Aware of America, and the University of North Carolina. Let’s Move! Child Care, a nationwide call-to-action to empower early education and child care programs to make positive changes, focuses on five goals:

Physical Activity: Provide 1-2 hours of physical activity throughout the day, including outside play when possible.

Screen Time: No screen time for children under 2 years. For children age 2 and older, strive to limit screen time to no more than 30 minutes per week during child care, and work with parents and caregivers to ensure children have no more than 1-2 hours of quality screen time per day, the amount recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Food: Serve fruits or vegetables at every meal, eat meals family-style when possible, and no fried foods.

Beverages: Provide access to water during meals and throughout the day, and do not serve sugary drinks. For children age 2 and older, serve low-fat (1%) or non-fat milk, and no more than one 4-6 ounce serving of 100% juice per day.

Infant feeding: For mothers who want to continue breastfeeding, provide their milk to their infants and welcome them to breastfeed during the child care day; and support all new parents in their decisions about infant feeding.

Childhood obesity is impacting children at an early age, including the 12 million U.S. children who spend time in early care and education settings. With 24 percent of children at risk or already overweight by the time they enter kindergarten, evidence-based research supports the need to provide healthy environments for preschool-aged children.

Nemours has played an active role in developing Let’s Move! Child Care, including the creation and maintenance of the initiative's website, www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org. The siteserves as an online hub for free tools, information, tips and resources, and provides a checklist quiz and action plan to help providers achieve the goals of the initiative. More than 7,000 providers from all states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands are participating in Let’s Move! Child Care. More than 58,000 people have visited the site and downloaded more than 40,000 materials.

Today, Let’s Move! Child Care honored outstanding early childhood obesity prevention efforts. The Let’s Move! Child Care State Challenge provided states with the opportunity to be recognized in two categories. Rhode Island received national recognition for having the highest percentage of licensed or legally operating early education and child care programs signed-up as LMCC participants. Idaho received recognition for having the highest percentage of LMCC participants who successfully completed the initiative’s checklist quiz.

In addition to the State Challenge winners, LMCC also acknowledged the efforts of providers who participate in LMCC and make improvements in early care and education programs promoting children’s health and prevention of childhood obesity. Among the providers recognized was the University of Delaware Early Learning Center, Newark, DE.

Nemours has worked with partners at the local level to improve healthy eating and physical activity in early care and education settings and is working at the national level to share and spread what works.

Debbie I. Chang, Nemours Vice President for Policy and Prevention, applauded the continued promotion of the goals of LMCC, “Let’s Move! Child Care is an exciting opportunity for early care and education programs to join the fight against childhood obesity by supporting healthy eating and physical activity in child care settings. We are pleased that the University of Delaware Early Learning Center has been honored for their exceptional efforts to implement the goals of Let’s Move! Child Care. This program and many others are taking outstanding steps and setting examples to support the health and well-being of young children.”

About Nemours

Nemours is an internationally recognized children's health system that owns and operates the two free-standing children’s hospitals: the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., along with outpatient facilities in five states, delivering pediatric primary, specialty and urgent care. Nemours also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, KidsHealth.org, and offers on-demand, online video patient visits through Nemours CareConnect. Nemours ReadingBrightstart.org is a program dedicated to preventing reading failure in young children, grounded in Nemours’ understanding that child health and learning are inextricably linked, and that reading level is a strong predictor of adult health.

Established as The Nemours Foundation through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, Nemours provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy and prevention programs to families in the communities it serves.